Tom Koracick
Thomas Koracick is the head neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins Hospital whom Amelia brought to Seattle to operate on her tumor. She later called him in to assist her with her MRI-guided ultrasound ablation project. History Amelia's Tumor After learning she had a large brain tumor, Amelia called Tom, her former mentor, to come to Seattle to operate on her. After he arrived, he agreed to operate and also made it clear that Amelia wouldn't be allowed to treat patients until he cleared her, as the tumor was affecting her judgment. ("Go Big or Go Home") Amelia's surgery went smoothly and a few days afterward, Koracick cleared Amelia to go home. ("Ain't That a Kick in the Head") Harmony Vasquez When Amelia attempted surgery on her first day back, she asked Tom to scrub in, unsure she could handle it herself. He scrubbed in, but she was able to remove the tumor easily without his help. After the surgery, he admitted he'd hoped she'd fail because that would mean she's not better than him anymore. After their shared success, they had sex in an on-call room. ("Come on Down to My Boat, Baby") Kimmie Park Amelia called Koracick back to Seattle again to help with researching a technique to remove Kimmie's tumor. After seeing Kimmie and her scans, Koracick believed it was pointless to try to perfect it within such a deadline and wanted to quit, but during a fight with Amelia over the issue, he had an epiphany and discussed a possible solution with Amelia. They later tested it and while it didn't work perfectly, it had more success than their prior attempts, giving them hope. ("You Really Got a Hold on Me") Game Night Tom came to the game night Maggie organized so Amelia and Meredith could meet Clive. He played as April's partner and had a good time. When the night abruptly ended, Tom ended up driving an intoxicated April home. ("Games People Play") Helping April After waking up from their one-night stand, Tom stuck around at her place and tried to figure out why she was so different from the woman Amelia had chosen for her Power of Attorney during her surgery. He eventually figured out that it was a crisis of faith and talked to her about his own faith, which was tested when his son died in a freak accident involving a baseball bat to the head at age ten. His marriage fell apart after the death of their son and his priest recommended talking to God. Since he didn't want to talk to God, he decided to go to Mass and speak to his son instead, something he told April he still does. ("Old Scars, Future Hearts") Treating Noah and New Direction with Kimmie After Noah Brosniak was diagnosed with an HH tumor, Tom and Amelia decided to use the treatment they were developing for Kimmie to help him. They had to control the lasers very carefully to make sure they were destroying the tumor but not his brain. The procedure was successful and Noah lived, but the difficulty made them realize it would take more time than Kimmie had left to fine-tune it to work for her type of tumor. Therefore, they decided to develop a treatment plan that would allow Kimmie to live until summer, when Koracick planned to take vacation time and fly Peg and Kimmie to New York to see as many Broadway shows as possible before she died. Alex became angry when he learned of this plan and shoved Tom up against a cabinet before backing off. ("Hold Back the River") Continuing Research Tom and Amelia continued their research into using the laser treatments to remove tumors. ("With a Wonder and a Wild Desire") Tad Tom stepped in to help when he saw Vik freaking out over Tad, a patient in the ER with a nosebleed. By the time they got to him, it was too late and Tad died. ("Gut Feeling") Catherine's Cancer Tom and Meredith were both summoned to Los Angeles for a VIP patient. They speculated that it was someone famous. When they arrived, Catherine told them it was a 65-year-old female who had severe back pain. She showed them the patient's scans, which showed a large spinal tumor. Then she revealed that she was the patient. Tom ordered a biopsy so they would know if the tumor was benign or malignant. When the tumor was found to be malignant, Tom became worried for his friend. She told him of all the things she'd been through and challenged him to find a way for her to live through this as well. ("Anybody Have a Map?") Tom worked with Amelia to create a surgical plan to remove Catherine's tumor, which they knew would be extremely difficult. Jo helped them out by showing them a new thing she had read about to visualize the tumor in 3D. ("Help, I'm Alive") Tom and Amelia took her in for her surgery. They worked for hours on her spine from the back, but when they couldn't get the tumor free, they decided to move her onto her side and come at it from the front and the back at the same time. They discovered that the tumor was attached to her brachial plexus. They used Richard's cancer pen to find the edges of the cancer, but despite this, they had to leave a piece of the tumor behind, meaning she'd be living with cancer and would need frequent scans to track the tumor. ("The Winner Takes It All") Lucille Reid Tom was called in to consult on the case of Lucille Reid, who had an aneurysm in her brain. He and Teddy operated together to fix her. They also observed that she had two men doting over her: her husband, Marvin, and her best friend, Julian. After working on the case, Tom wondered about the analogous situation happening with her and Owen. That night, she went to his hotel room to show him that she was only ever meant to be friends with Owen. ("I Walk the Line") Catherine's Party Tom attended Catherine's party, with Teddy as his guest. At the party, he and Owen butted heads over his relationship with Teddy, which included a planned pre-baby vacation to Palm Springs. Owen confronted him about it, but he was unconcerned until Owen said that he's not a father. When he heard that, Tom punched Owen. Teddy corrected Owen that Tom is a father and stopped Owen from punching Tom back. Tom then iced his hand as the party continued until a plastic pan accidentally placed in the oven forced an evacuation of the building. ("We Didn't Start the Fire") Conflict with Owen After Owen left a birthing class Teddy had invited Tom to to be with Teddy after she experienced some troubling symptoms, Tom realized Owen was trying to shut him out of the experience. He warned Owen that he would fight for Teddy to have the person who loves her and only her. ("Add It Up") Teddy's House Hunt When Teddy decided she wanted to buy a house before the baby was born, Tom helped her look, as he claimed superpowers relating to houses. ("The Whole Package") Relationships Romantic Ex-Wife He was previously married, but their marriage fell apart and they divorced after their son died. ("Old Scars, Future Hearts") April Kepner He had sex with April after they met at Maggie's game night. ("Old Scars, Future Hearts") Nicole Herman He and Nicole had sex after she became blind. ("Cold as Ice") Teddy Altman After learning that Teddy was pregnant with Owen's baby, but they weren't a couple, Tom expressed interest. When he later found Teddy in a lounge massaging her feet, he offered her some of her fries and fed them to her because her hands were covered in feet. ("Help, I'm Alive") After he operated on Catherine, Teddy offered to celebrate with a drink, but he took a rain check, saying he needed a shower. ("The Winner Takes It All") At Jo and Alex's New Years Eve party, Tom and Teddy shared a kiss at midnight. Later, he saw her lying down because her feet were hurting and said she should go get a mani-pedi at his favorite place. They ended up getting mani-pedis together, which they both enjoyed. ("Girlfriend in a Coma") Their relationship hit a small snag when Tom wondered about her relationship with Owen. However, she allayed his fears and he invited her into his hotel room to have dinner. ("I Walk the Line") When Teddy was working on the difficult case of Elizabeth Hall, Tom was back at Hopkins. However, he came back and saw her being comforted by Owen. ("And Dream of Sheep") Familial His son died at the age of ten when he was hit in the head with a baseball bat. ("Old Scars, Future Hearts") After operating on Catherine, he went to the chapel to talk to his son and tell him his dad did good. ("The Winner Takes It All") Friendships Catherine Fox He has a history with Catherine Fox. They flirted a little bit when they ran into each other again at the hospital and she invited him to return for lectures in the future. ("Ain't That a Kick in the Head") Tom later told Meredith that Catherine was the one who woke him back up after his son died, reminding him that he was still alive and shouldn't sleepwalk through his life. ("Anybody Have a Map?") Professional Amelia Shepherd As her mentor, Amelia has professional respect for him, though she acknowledges and loathes his arrogance. He likes to take credit for her surgical skills. After her tumor was removed, he stayed to cover her service until she was cleared to return. However, she stopped him from leaving and asked him to join her on her first case back as she needed some hand holding. After they operated together, he had sex with her after he told her she was a better surgeon than him. He later claimed he only said that to get her to sleep with him, though she didn't buy that. She also told him she dislikes him intensely. ("Come on Down to My Boat, Baby") While they worked on their research together, Tom gave Amelia advice on how to get where she wanted to be with Owen. ("With a Wonder and a Wild Desire") Career Dr. Koracick is the head neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He trained Amelia Shepherd. He helped to cover her service at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital while they planned to remove her tumor and stayed to do so until she was cleared to return to work. He later partnered with her on her innovation project regarding ultrasound ablation of inoperable gliomas and gained privileges at Grey Sloan to jump in and help out when necessary. Notes and Trivia *He plays music and sings along while operating.Ain't That a Kick in the Head, 14x04 *His Grey Sloan Memorial lab coat has Tom Koracick embroidered on it, while the lab coats usually display the doctors' full first names. *He grew up Catholic.Old Scars, Future Hearts, 14x15 *He likes to play Operation before surgery to get himself in the mood.The Winner Takes It All, 15x11 Gallery Episodic 14x03ThomasKoracick.png|Go Big or Go Home 14x04ThomasKoracick.png|Ain't That a Kick in the Head 14x06ThomasKoracick.png|Come on Down to My Boat, Baby 14x13ThomasKoracick.png|You Really Got a Hold on Me 14x14ThomasKoracick.png|Games People Play 14x15ThomasKoracick.png|Old Scars, Future Hearts 14x18ThomasKoracick.png|Hold Back the River 15x01ThomasKoracick.png|With a Wonder and a Wild Desire 15x03ThomasKoracick.png|Gut Feeling 15x07ThomasKoracick.png|Anybody Have a Map? 15x10ThomasKoracick.png|Help, I'm Alive 15x11ThomasKoracick.png|The Winner Takes It All 15x12ThomasKoracick.png|Girlfriend in a Coma 15x13ThomasKoracick.png|I Walk the Line 15x15ThomasKoracick.png|We Didn't Start the Fire 15x17ThomasKoracick.png|And Dream of Sheep 15x18ThomasKoracick.png|Add It Up 15x20ThomasKoracick.png|The Whole Package Episode Stills 14x03-12.jpg 14x03-13.jpg 14x03-14.jpg 14x03-15.jpg 14x03-16.jpg 14x03-17.jpg 14x03-18.jpg 14x03-19.jpg 14x03-20.jpg 14x03-21.jpg 14x03-22.jpg 14x03-23.jpg 14x03-24.jpg 14x03-25.jpg 14x03-26.jpg 14x03-27.jpg 14x03-28.jpg 14x03-29.jpg 14x03-30.jpg 14x03-33.jpg 14x04-5.jpg 14x04-9.jpg 14x04-16.jpg 14x04-20.jpg 14x04-22.jpg 14x04-24.jpg 14x18-6.jpg 14x18-7.jpg 14x18-17.jpg 14x18-20.jpg 14x18-23.jpg 14x18-24.jpg 14x18-46.jpg 15x01-1.jpg 15x01-2.jpg 15x01-6.jpg 15x01-7.jpg 15x01-8.jpg 15x01-9.jpg 15x01-13.jpg 15x01-14.jpg 15x01-15.jpg 15x01-16.jpg 15x01-17.jpg 15x01-18.jpg 15x01-19.jpg 15x01-23.jpg 15x01-24.jpg 15x01-25.jpg 15x01-26.jpg 15x07-1.jpg 15x07-3.jpg 15x07-8.jpg 15x07-9.jpg 15x07-10.jpg 15x07-11.jpg 15x07-12.jpg 15x07-13.jpg 15x07-17.jpg 15x07-18.jpg 15x07-19.jpg 15x15-8.jpg 15x15-9.jpg 15x15-12.jpg 15x15-13.jpg 15x15-14.jpg 15x22-1.jpg 15x22-2.jpg 15x22-4.jpg 15x22-5.jpg 15x22-6.jpg 15x22-7.jpg Appearances Category:Characters Category:GA Characters Category:GA S14 Characters Category:GA S15 Characters Category:Doctors